I understand what you're saying lzjar. Personally, I don't play for the stats. But look at the forums. Every discussion has to include stats as proof of something. Stats give a large portion of the community something to feel good about. Even if they can't play right now, they can look at their stats and marvel at how good they are at this or that. When I say KDR is King, it ain't a compliment. It's just the reality of our community. I don't think we can look at our individual selves when discussing KDR. I think you have to look at the community at large. And, like I said ... KDR is king. Want to join a clan? No problem: what is your KDR? Want to be a popular YouTuber? No problem: what is your KDR? Want to play MLG? No problem: what is your KDR? You keep getting put on teams with noobs? Do you have your KDR and their KDR to prove you're not the noob?
KDR is King in COD.
that stats is the reason you play COD?
Like I said above: don't look at it from your personal point of view. Look at the community at large. I think if you do that, you see that people play for the stats. No one admits it. But they will sure go to the stats to prove their opinion.
I'll give you that "horrible" may be a little harsh. It was just the synonym for "not good" that came to mind.
The reason I believe that removing stats from the lobby would result in more dashboarding and backing out during matches is based upon personal experiences, I admit. Remove the lobby stats and more people will be willing to try, true. But then you'll also have more people backing out once the party begins to dominate.
As far as matchmaking or lobby creation already weighting searches to pit party vs party, it does not force such game play. Regardless, you've got party players complaining that randoms won't play against them because the randoms are afraid of party skill. Removing stats in the lobby or forcing randoms to play against parties, how is that proving party skill?
I would think that if party players wanted to force anything, they would want to force party vs party play. Or make it so that when you're in a party, you can't see the stats. Trick the parties into playing against other parties, that seems more prudent to me.
When I say removing lobby stats would bring the franchise down, I don't mean it would be an instant killer. But I do think you would see a smaller and smaller public match player population.
For some reason, parties seem to be mystified by the fact that no one wants to be fodder for someone else's pleasure. It is one thing to get slaughtered by a team of randoms that happened to be better players. It is an entirely different thing to consistently be placed against parties and parties consistently winning against randoms. And not just winning, but totally humiliating the randoms.
You know what I said about randoms being very hesitant to test the waters against parties after BO2?
How do we know that is not what has caused the player population to decline in Ghosts? Maybe people got their money's worth out of BO2, got new games for Christmas this year, and said, "Meh, I'll pass on Call of Duty - only party players have fun and I'm not a party player."
Because, though ATVI has certainly been promoting social gaming in the last several titles ... the vast majority of the community still consists of solo players or two-member parties.
I may have overstated something to convey that people play only for the stats. No, you're right. People play because it is fun to play. But the stats are a huge part of what makes it fun. It's like quick scoping. I don't that you can get rid of quick scoping and still have fairness for snipers. Some people suggest getting rid of sniper rifles altogether. That would be a bad idea, too. That would be like getting rid of shotguns. Or pistols. It just would not be Call of Duty anymore.